A Prayer For Those Who Weep

Father, you see me. You know me. You see all the tears that fall. Even the ones that fall in the dark of the night and stain my pillow. 

You collect my tears in your bottle. That tells me that my tears are not meaningless. You save them.

I don’t know all the reasons why, but something tells me that they are precious to you. You must be very close to me if you’re going to catch my tears. You are not a God far away. You are right here with me. Close enough to pluck the tears from my cheeks and tuck them away. 

What echoes of redemption in that one small act! Redeem my tears, Father. Redeem each and every one. 

Others have caught my tears, too. My precious family, my faithful friends, my sisters at church. They’ve come in close to catch those tears. They are not friends far away (even though many are very far….across oceans even!), but near. They have come in close. They have not turned their backs on me in my grief. They have stepped in and wept with me. 

Oh Father, let us be a people who catch the tears of the hurting. Teach us to hold sacred the tears of the aching. Move us to draw near, to draw in. Pull our hearts towards the mess of grief and ache in others. Forgive us when we long for sterilized settings and tidy stories. Help us reflect you better in the realm of weeping. 

Teach us to weep with those who weep. 

For as long as they weep, not just when the tears start to flow. 

Oh, let us be there beside them until the bitter end when you call us homewards and make everything sad right again. Let us journey beside them in faithfulness. Lift our arms as we lift theirs. 

You are the God who sees. 

Help us to see. 

You are the God who catches tears. 

Move us to do the same. 

You are the God who is near the brokenhearted. 

Teach us this sacred work. 

Amen.